 Two Cossack regiments were stationed in Bălți County, and a 3,000-strong Russian Army regiment in Orhei County had no other occupation but regular raids through these Counties.Among their victims were preeminent personalities, such as the lawyer Simeon G. Murafa, the engineer Hodorogea, and Mihai Razu in August 1917.On , the Congress, "based on historic, national and revolutionary" considerations, proclaimed Bessarabia territorially and politically an "Autonomous Republic".